The Los Angeles Dodgers have once again dropped out of their National League West division lead after a loss to the San Diego Padres on Saturday.
Now, with the playoffs rapidly approaching, the Dodgers have some decisions to make about how they can retake that lead and set up a hopeful repeat as World Series champions.
And it seems clear that the leading position for manager Dave Roberts to improve should be left field, where free-agent bust Michael Conforto has started 100 games this season with little success.
“Going into the weekend series against the San Diego Padres, Dodgers left fielders had combined for a .214 batting average (27th in the majors) and .667 OPS (23rd),” according to Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register. “Roberts has continued to start Conforto despite his lack of production, in part, because of a lack of better options. That could be changing.”
With Hyeseong Kim and Kiké Hernandez preparing to return to the big-league roster after stints on the injured list, the pair made a minor league rehab start in the outfield in a possible hint about who might replace Conforto for the stretch run. Roberts told Plunkett that Kim represents an option for left field and Hernandez could as well. Or, if one of them is slotted into center field, Andy Pages could take over left.
In addition, the eventual return of Tommy Edman gives the Dodgers another outfield option that could shuffle things around. Ultimately, Roberts responded to Plunkett’s questions about how the roster returns could finally see Conforto replaced by emphasizing that there are multiple opportunities to seize the left field job and that there is really only one result that matters.
“I think that whoever we get out there, we need production” Roberts responded, per Plunkett. “As guys come back, there’s going to be opportunities. … But we definitely need production.”
So far, that production has not come from Conforto. But some coming roster changes could give the Dodgers manager the chance to change that.
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